Additional Links

Suit challenges Pa.’s non-recognition of gay union

Sep 27 2013 12:01 am

AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Plaintiffs Isabelle Barker, left, and her spouse Cara Palladino speak during a news conference, on Thursday, near Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Cara Palladino and Isabelle Barker, who were legally married in Massachusetts and moved to Pennsylvania, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday aiming to overturn the 1996 amendment to a state law stating same-sex marriages, including those recorded elsewhere, are not legal within the state

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two women who moved to Pennsylvania after being wed in Massachusetts asked a court on Thursday to force their new home state to recognize the marriage.

Cara Palladino and Isabelle Barker lived in Massachusetts when they got married in 2005 and moved to the Philadelphia area later that year to work at Bryn Mawr College. They had a son in January 2009.

The couple sued the state on Thursday, naming Gov. Tom Corbett and Attorney General Kathleen Kane as defendants.

Thirty-seven states, including Pennsylvania, do not recognize gay marriages performed legally in other jurisdictions.

Pennsylvania is the only one in the northeastern U.S. without same-sex marriage or civil unions. A state law defines marriage as the union of “one man and one woman.”

On Wednesday, 21 same-sex couples sued in state court to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage. That lawsuit parallels a separate challenge filed two months ago in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

In another lawsuit, the state Health Department has sued to stop a Montgomery County official who decided on his own to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. One of the same-sex couples married with one of those licenses also has filed their own lawsuit.

Suit challenges non-recognition of union

Comments

Notice about comments:

Aiken Standard is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point.

We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click the X that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. This will send the comment to Facebook for review. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full terms and conditions.